


Sleep Now, Write Later

by FireflySong



Series: Pride Month Writing Prompt Challenge 2020 [21]
Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Sleepy Kisses, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and instead i wrote whatever this shit is, chris trying to save ash from the hazards of writing at 3am, listen, this is the worst sappiest thing i have ever written, this was supposed to be an angsty drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24930487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireflySong/pseuds/FireflySong
Summary: Chris has just woken up to find Ashley missing from their bed, and he knows what he must do to rectify this mistake.Written for Day 21: Story of the Pride Month Writing Prompt Challenge over on tumblr.
Relationships: Ashley Brown/Chris Hartley
Series: Pride Month Writing Prompt Challenge 2020 [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1770988
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Sleep Now, Write Later

**Author's Note:**

> i dont even know. i had wanted to write a sole survivor ash fic, but after days of hating everything i had written, this is what happened instead. so instead of soul-crushing angst, just take this tooth-rotting fluff that i still can't believe i wrote. its embarrassing how sappy this is honestly.
> 
> you can find me on tumblr at love-fireflysong if you feel so inclined!

When Chris woke up, it was with the realization that the other half of the bed was empty. Once, this would have filled him with panic, nightmares of the events that happened in Blackwood Lodge coming to life once again, but it had been years now. True, there were still some nights of panic. Of flailing in bed, reaching out for your other half in all the ways were important and all of the ways that mattered, feeling their breath rising steadily in their chest, confirming that they were really, truly safe and alive. That you hadn’t fucked up beyond repair.

But this wasn’t one of those nights. No, this night filled Chris with only a deep sigh of resignation and fondness as his hand smacked sleepily onto the bedside table for his glasses and phone. He continued to aimlessly smack his hand around, until he finally felt the familiar shape of his glasses and put them on, not that the glasses made the darkness of the bedroom any easier to see of course. He returned to his blind hunt of the table and found his phone much easier, though he fumbled with sleep-addled fingers to turn on screen and grunted at the brightness that not only lit up the room, but seared his retinas. He ignored all of this to sleepily decipher the time on his phone.

2:37 am. Of course. He was honestly surprised that he hadn’t woken up earlier.

With a groan, Chris rolled himself out of bed, clumsily escaping the prison of blankets he had somehow rolled himself into, and blearily walked down the hall to the the make-shift little study that they two of them had made when they first moved into the place a couple of years back. And to his complete lack of surprise, found Ashley sitting in front of the computer.

He stood in the doorway, just leaning on the door frame, as he watched her with an indescribably fond smile. She had bundled herself in the afghan left out on the couch nearby and was sitting cross-legged on their dinky little office chair, face inches from the screen as she typed furiously away at the keyboard. Her fingers danced across the keys, new words and sentences appearing before her eyes every second. Only giving a murmured curse under her breath every time she fumbled and a misspelling appeared onscreen. It was only when she made her fifth mistake in twice as many seconds that Chris finally pushed himself off the door and entered the room. The fact that Ash didn’t even notice him until he had wrapped his arms around her shoulders and buried his face into her hair made him only love her more.

“What the—? Chris? What are you doing up?” Her voice was tired, but still exponentially more awake then he currently was.

“Missed you.” He finished his sleepily delivered statement with a kiss behind her ear.

The sigh she gave was almost as fond as his smile had been a few moments before. “Go back to bed. I’ll be there in a little bit.” She turned back to her writing, only to have Chris tug her backwards with the chair rolling further away from the computer. “Chris! Stop it!” She was laughing though, so he didn’t feel too bad about it.

“Missed you.” He repeated, though this one was definitely more of a whine. He nuzzled further into her hair, until he had shifted the afghan she had cocooned herself in enough that he could place a new kiss to the skin at base of her neck. “Missed you. Bed.”

Ash laughed again, though this one was more of a resigned sigh. “Just let me finish this chapter, all right? I’ll be there soon, I promise.”

Ha. Like he was gonna believe that. He’d leave for bed and come back to find her in the morning having never left, asleep at the desk and pages upon pages of d’s across the screen and a massive crick her neck when she woke up. Nope. Not tonight. “Nuh uh. Sleep now. Story later.” He gave a large yawn while still nestled in her hair, and used it as an excuse to burrow further into her shoulder. “Almost 3 am, Ash. Come to bed.”

He could feel the fight draining from her by the way she shrank in her seat a bit. “I need to finish this though. I’m so close, Chris. Just a few more pages I promise.”

He only responded by pulling her further away from the computer. He could feel her shoulders raise as her arms strained to reach the keyboard and pull herself back towards the desk, and he retaliated by layering more kisses into the base of her neck. “Still be here when you wake up.” He gave another yawn, and nuzzled his nose into the space where her shoulder and neck met.

The sigh that Ash gave was in clear acceptance of her fate. “Yeah, I know. You’re right, it will be.” He could feel her turn her head to look at him, but he was happy right where he was and didn’t move. Her next line was much more softly delivered. “You both will be.”

Chris just grunted in response, and her tired giggle was like music to his ears. He reluctantly let her scooch back towards the computer, and despite being burrowed so far into her hair that he was practically part of her shoulder now, made sure to watch carefully that she only saved the file and exited out of the program. The moment he watched the program close, he was tugging her backwards again as she laughed.

“Chris! I can’t get out of the chair if you keep leaning on me like this!”

A large part of Chris didn’t care, he was comfy. “Comfy. Sleep here instead.”

“You can’t sleep standing up. Come on, it’s only a few feet till the bedroom.”

Even tired as he was, his mind was alert enough to see the sense in her argument. Still, he let out a put-upon groan as he backed off enough to let her get up and drop the afghan back onto the chair. That was all the time he gave her to do before he was back to tugging her towards their bedroom, insistent on going back to sleep.

She just continued to laugh softly behind him, and laughed louder when he all but collapsed back onto the bed, pulling her with him. His eyes were already closed as he made himself comfy, pulling the blankets back up and over them, and just smiled when he felt her hands on his face. And proceeded to whine when Ash pulled away, wrapping his arms tighter around her waist.

“I’m just putting your glasses back on the table, Chris. I promise. I’m not going anywhere.” He still didn’t like the idea of her leaving for any reason and let her know when she came back and he only held onto her more firmly. He could feel her making herself more comfy on the bed in turn, tangling her legs with his and readjusting her arms so her hands were splayed out on his chest. Ash finished her positioning by pressing her face into his neck so her lips rested on his collarbone, and he responded by burying his nose into the top of her hair with a happy little sigh.

She gave a small kiss to his collar bone and snuggled further into his arms. “I love you.”

Chris didn’t respond. He was already fast asleep.


End file.
